The existence of an ancient Indian colony in Armenia is well known to Armenian scholars, but Indianists have paid little attention to it. We owe our knowledge of it to Zenob, a Syrian, and a native of Glak (Klag), which Mr. Ellis suggests may be the Armenian equivalent of Kerak. Zenob became an ecclesiastic in an unknown town of Cappadocia called Nystra, and was the companion of St. Gregory the Illuminator on an idol-smashing tour through Armenia, about the year 304 a.d. By St. Gregory's command he wrote an account of this expedition to his Cappadocian brethren, and in it he gives a lively account of the Illuminator's little war with the Indian idolaters of Tarôn (Darôn). Zenob's history, composed originally in Syriac, has come down to us in an Armenian version, which has suffered from revision. It has been twice translated into French, and part of it into English. Zenob's work has the charm and freshness of a contemporary narrative, and throws a good deal of light on the early history of monachism and the worship of relics. He was well acquainted with the Indians he mentions, as he was for twenty years Abbot of the Convent of the Nine Springs, founded by St. Gregory on the site of the Indian temple. The convent beacme one of the most famous in Armenia, and was popularly known from the time of Zenob as the convent of Glak.

abhibhuyya jânâmi passâmîti evaṁsaññî hoti, idaṁ catutthaṁ abhibhâyatanaṁ. Ajjhattaṁ arûpasaññî eko bahiddhâ rûpâni passati nîlâni nîlavaṇṇâni nîlanidassanâni nîlanibhâsâni seyyatbâ pi nâma ummâpupphaṁ nîlam nîlavaṇṇam nîlanidassanaṁ nilanibhâsaṁ seyyathâ pi vâ pana taṁ vatthaṁ Bàrânaseyyakaṁ ubhatobhâgavimaṭṭhaṁ nîlaṁ nîlavaṇṇaṁ nîlanidassanaṁ nîlanibhâsaṁ evam eva ajjhattaṁ arûpasaññî eko bahiddhâ rûpâni passati nîlâni nîlavaṇṇâni nîlanidassanâni nîlanibhâsâni tâni abhibhuyya jânâmi passâmîti evaṁsaññî hoti, idam pañcamaṁ abhibhâyatanaṁ. Ajjhattaṁ arupasaññî eko bahiddhâ rûpâni passati pîtâni pîtavaṇṇâni pîtanidassanâni pîtanibhâsâni seyyathâ pi nâma kaṇikârapupphaṁ pîtaṁ pîtavaṇṇam pîtanidassanaṁ pîtani-bhâsaṁ seyyathâ pi vâ pana taṁ vatthaṁ Bàrâṇaseyyakaṁ ubhatobhâgavimaṭṭham pîtaṁ pîtavaṇṇam pîtanidassanaṁ pîtanibhâsaṁ evam eva ajjhattaṁ arupasaññî eko bahiddhâ rûpâni passati pîtâni pîtavaṇṇâni pîtanidassanâni pîtanibhâsâni tâni abhibhuyya jânâmi passâmîti evamsaññî hoti, idam chaṭṭham abhibhâyatanam. Ajjhattam arûpasaññî eko bahiddhâ rûpâni passati lohitakâni lohitakavaṇṇâni lohitakanidassanâni lohitakanibhâsâni seyyathâ pi nâma bandhujî-vakapuppham lohitakaṁ lohitakavaṇṇam lohitakanidassanaṁ lohitakanibhâsaṁ seyyathâ pi vâ pana tam vatthaṁ Bàrânaseyyakam ubhatobhâgavimattham lohitakam lohitakavannam lohitakanidassanam lohitakanibhâsam evam eva ajjhattam arupasaññî eko bahiddhâ rûpâni passati lohitakâni lohitakavannâni lohitakanidassanam lohitakanibhâsâni tâni abhibhuyya jânâmi passâmîti evamsaññî hoti, idam sattamaṁ abhibhâyatanam. Ajjhattam arupasaññî eko bahiddhâ rûpâni passati odâtâni odâtavannâni odâtanidassanâni odâtanibhâsâni seyyathâ pi nâma osadhitârakâ odâtâ odâtavannâ odâtani dassanâ odâtanibbâsâ seyyathâ pi vâ pana taṁ vattbam Bârânaseyyakam ubhatobhâgavimattbam odâtam odâtavan-nam odâtanidassanam odâtanibbâsam evam eva ajjhattam arûpasannî eko bahiddhâ rûpâni passati odâtâni odâtavannâni odâtanidassanâni odâtambhâsâni tâni abhiblmyya jânâmi passâmîti evamsaññî boti, idaṁ atthamam abbibhâyatanam. Imâni kbo Ânanda attba abhibhâyatanâni.

When at Lhasa in 1904 I found, in addition to the two earliest historical Tibetan documents yet known (as notified inthis Journal), a very long inscription of the Chinese emperor Chia-ch'ing, of 1808 a.d., which is of considerable historical interest and importance. It gives an official account of the origin of the Grand Lamaship and of the theory of succession to the same by divine reincarnations; it also prescribes the “Ordeal of the Urn” for the selection of the candidate, one of the steps taken by China to secure political control over the succession to the pontifical throne; and it records the building of the Potala palace at Lhasa as one of “the three Potalas”, and of a fourth “Potala”-academy erected by a Chinese emperor at Jehol, to the north-west of Peking.

Exact investigation, assisted by some recent fortunate discoveries, has proved that the reputed identifications of many of the ancient sites famous in early Indian history are beyond doubt erroneous. Almost every such identification requires to be submitted to searching criticism before it can be accepted as correct. If any ancient site could be regarded as satisfactorily identified, that of the city of Kauśāmbī might apparently be so regarded. Nevertheless, the current belief is mistaken.

The paper which. I formerly wrote on the Rig-Veda was merely intended to lay down the general principles which guided the ancient Arranger of that venerable collection of poems. It was my good fortune to be the first to lay before scholars the following discoveries:—

1. That the hymns of the Ṛig-Veda are arranged in the order of their diminishing length.

2. That the First Maṇḍala differs from the rest, and that it possesses a special arrangement of its own.

3. That Maṇḍalas II. to VII. are uniform in character.

4. That the hymns of the Ninth Maṇḍala are manifestly arranged according to the metre and length of the hymns.

5. That certain long hymns in the Ṛig-Veda can be resolved into short sets of verses.

6. That the Tenth Maṇḍala consists of, at least, two collections, showing a distinct mark of cleavage between the 84th and 85th hymns.

Scarcely ever has Islām experienced more tragical times and more hardships than during the Mongol invasion in the course of the thirteenth century a.d. With the despite of the nomads, practitioners of the open-air life, for sedentary occupations, the people of Jengis Khān turned against and mercilessly destroyed the towns and works of civilization everywhere. Their disastrous campaign was only facilitated by the decomposition of the political unity of Islām at that time. In Baghdād the 'Abbāsid caliphate still subsisted, but its splendour was on the wane; to the west of Baghdād, in Egypt, Palestine, and a part of Syria, the Ayyūbids reigned, and in Asia Minor the Seljūqs, while to the east of Baghdād the Turkish princes from Khiva had, a rather insecure hold on the vast stretch of the Khwārizmian empire from the Ganges to the Tigris and from Turkestān to the Indian Ocean. This state of affairs was inviting to an enterprising invader of the sort of Jengis Khān who, in 1218, crushed the Khwārizmian empire, while his grandson, Hūlāghū Khān, put an end to the 'Abbāsid caliphate in 1258. The western provinces of Islām, including Egypt, were, however, spared from the devastating fury of the Mongols by the Mamlūk Sulṭān's victory over Ketbogha, Hūlāghū's general, at 'Ayn Jālūt, Palestine, in 1260. When in 1299–1301 his grandson Qāzān failed in conquering Syria Islām was definitely safe from further Mongol attacks.

Just thirty-five years ago, in 1860, the Government of India agreed to institute an Archæological Survey of Upper India, and thus to take an active part in the exploration of the numerous and extensive historical remains of the country, which task until then had been left to the desultory efforts (occasionally aided by grants from the public funds) of the learned societies and private individuals. Adverse circumstances, however, very soon counteracted the effects of this official recognition of the claims of antiquarian research to continued Government assistance and guidance. Already in 1866 financial pressure induced Lord Lawrence to stop the work which Sir A. Cunningham had barely begun. The Survey was abolished, and there followed a regrettable time of inaction, which lasted until 1870, when, in consequence of urgent representations from various influential quarters, and especially from eminent members of the Royal Asiatic Society, the Secretary of State and the Supreme Government of India consented to return to the principle laid down in 1860. The next result was the re-opening of the Archæological Survey for the Northern half of India, which was now organized on a larger scale, and the issue of orders by the Secretary of State for the registration and preservation of the historical monuments all over India. Soon afterwards, in 1873, the Government of Bombay was permitted to establish a survey of its own for the Western Presidency, and somewhat later the Government of Madras likewise directed its attention to the collection of notes regarding the antiquities of Southern India and to their scientific exploration.

About the date of the Maritime Code (or more strictly Digest) of Malacca, Malay copyists have gone out of their way to create confusion. Maxwell Malay MS. 47 in the Library of the Royal Asiatic Society, London, relates how sea-captains went to Bendahara Paduka Sri Maharaja to approach Sultan Muhammad (d. ca. A.D. 1446) to ratify maritime laws, and Raffles MSS. 33, 34, and 74 cite both Paduka Sri Maharaja, Bendahara to Sultan Mahmud (asc. 1488, d. 1530), and at the very end of the same paragraph Sri Nara 'diraja, Bendahara to Sultan Muhammad. Raffles MS. 68 ascribes both the Malacca Code and Maritime Laws to Muhammad. Most MSS. ascribe the latter to Mahnaud's reign and all of them are marked by Bugis maritime terms. There is no record of Bugis ships frequenting Malacca as early as 1446 and there seems no doubt that scholars have been right in assigning the Maritime Digest to the time of Sultan Mahmud.

Colebrooke, in his celebrated essay “On the Vedas, or Sacred Writings of the Hindus” (As. Researches, vol. viii.; Misc. Essays, vol. i.), was the first to direct general attention to the now familiarly known passage of the Jyotisha relative to the position of the solstices in the Hindu lunar zodiac, and to derive from it a date for use in determining the doubtful chronology of the earliest period of literary productiveness in India. His conclusion is expressed as follows: “Hence it is clear, that Dhanishṣhâ and Aslesha are the constellations meant; and that, when this Hindu calendar was regulated, the solstitial points were reckoned to be at the beginning of the one, and in the middle of the other: and such was the situation of those cardinal points in the fourteenth century before the Christian era” (Misc. Essays, vol. i., pp. 109–110). He had a little before (ibid., p. 106) declared that he “inclined to think, that the ceremonies called yajña, and the prayers to be recited at those ceremonies [namely, the prayers constituting the sanhitâs of the three older Vedas], are as old as the calendar.”

When the Asiatic Society was first founded in Bengal, the purposes of its institution were stated in these memorable words by Sir William Jones: “The bounds of its investigation will be the geographical limits of Asia; and within these limits its inquiries will be extended to whatever is performed by man, or produced by nature.” The announcement was hailed with enthusiasm, not only by the ardent scholars who began to explore the untrodden fields of Indian literature, but by their distant countrymen, anxious to learn the result of their investigations. Asia has ever engaged the sympathies of Christian Europe; it was the cradle of our race, the birth-place of our faith, the first great source of our civilisation. We can read no history, investigate no antiquarian problem, nor examine any philological research, without having our attention more or less directed towards those vast plateaux whence our forefathers descended into the western world. Every new fact communicated respecting them interests us like intelligence of our family; every fresh monument of antiquity discovered in these regions claims the same respect that we accord to the tombs of our ancestors.

Iron has been applied to numerous useful purposes, by every civilized nation, for thousands of years; but never has it been so extensively employed as at the present period. We have iron roads and iron carriages; the “wooden walls of old England” will probably be made of iron in another century; numerous steam-boats are already constructed of that material; the cushions of our chairs are stuffed with iron in place of horsehair; and not only our bedsteads but even our feather beds (to use an Hibernicism) are made of iron.

It is a matter for some surprise, that, of the scholars who have been engaged in public in the attempt to settle the date of Kanishka, none should have noticed the existence of a member of his dynasty who ought to have been recognised at least eight years ago. The case is as follows.

The large province of Gujarát, or Guzarát, including the peninsula of Katiawár, extends from Banswárah to Dwarka, or, from east to west, about two hundred and ninety miles; and from Bírgaon, in Jalór, to Damán, or, from north to south, about three hundred miles. It is watered by several considerable rivers; among which the Narbada and the Mahi were known to Ptolemy. This, which is one of the most productive districts of India, supplies the greater part of the commercial articles exported from the port of Bombay: these are cotton, opium, saltpetre, indigo, tobacco, grain, and gold-cloths.

Like the invasion of the Danes in England, the incursions of the Bargi in Bengal, were characterized by murder and rapine and every species of atrocity. There is, however, a good deal of difference between the two, for we have nothing comparable to the Anglo-Saxon chronicle to record the latter, and in the matter of other materials, we are sadly lacking. The Nagpur Marhattas have left no historical records. Consequently there are no Marhatta sources. Neither are there any letters in Marathi, at least to my knowledge, on the subject, as these raids were undertaken by the now defunct house of Nagpur. Mr. Hill in his Bengal in 1756–7, has given us a brief summary of the English Factory Records of Fort William, and the old records of the East India Company might, if thoroughly searched, yield good material. The time, however, demanded for this is beyond our power to afford. Besides the above and occasional references here and there, there are, of course, three ether books which can be profitably consulted for the purpose—Salimulla's Tarikh-i-Bangla, Riyazu-s-salatin, and the Seir Mutaherin. This practically exhausts our list of authorities for studying the subject, so far as they are available to the general student.